Thanks in part to more than a decade of preclinical work by Dartmouth researchers, a Japanese biopharmaceutical firm, Kyowa Hakko Kirin, is preparing to develop and market throughout Asia a drug for the treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD). The drug, bardoxolone methyl, belongs to a family of anti-inflammatory compounds called triterpenoids, which chemist Tadashi Honda, PhD, began synthesizing at the Dartmouth laboratory in 1995. Researchers found synthetic triterpenoids can inhibit many kinds of tumor cells, suppress inflammation, and protect healthy, non-cancerous cells. The agreement gives Kyowa exclusive rights to develop and sell bardoxolone for CKD and related conditions in Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea and southeast Asia. 

This article originally appeared in the February 2010 issue of Kidney Beginnings: The Electronic Newsletter.